So you want to use Linux? Here is a little help.
 

I have recently been seeing so many of these threads popping up and they all have some things in common. But the biggest thing I see is that when asking they don't really let us know what they are looking for out of there system. Well I am hoping that this will help.

For starters here is a really great place to start. http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/in...lect_lang=true
This simple quiz really does give you a good base line. Please start there.
Also this will give you some help on choosing a laptop that will work really well with linux
http://www.linux-laptop.net/. I use this all the time before choosing a distro for
a friends laptop or even purchasing a laptop.

Now that you got your baseline lets go a step further. I want something that is really comparable to windows. Then I would say start with PcLinuxOS or Xandros or Linspire.
http://www.pclinuxos.com/
http://www.linspire.com/
http://www.xandros.com/

Well that is all fine but I really don't want something that looks too much like windows but I still want it to be pretty newbie friendly.
Then my friend here are some great distros.
http://www.ubuntu.com/ or any of its offspring like Xubuntu, Edubuntu and so on.
http://www.opensuse.org/en/
http://fedoraproject.org/
http://www.mandriva.com/

Hey what about me. I want to be a uber linux geek and know the ins and out of my system and don't forget about the server. Well here is some great choices for you.
http://www.debian.org/
http://www.slackware.com/
http://www.gentoo.org/
http://www.centos.org/
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org

"Hey no one will help me. Where can I find info in the mean time". Well first off that could be because you might have not given enough information or you just seem flat out lazy. But never fear friends, We have done some searching for you. (Google What a wonderfull but mysterious thing you are.)

Rute Linux Tutorial
http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz

The Linux Documentation project
http://tldp.org/

Linux man pages on the web
http://www.linuxmanpages.com/

Printer Support and Driver information
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/Op.../DatabaseIntro

Wireless cards with FREE Drivers (no ndiswrapper needed)
http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/net/wireless/cards.html

Linux Hardware Review Site (good place to check for support of a particular motherboard)
http://www.phoronix.com/

Linux Questions Search (Good place to see if someone has already asked)
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/search.php

http://www.yolinux.com/
http://www.linuxdocs.org/
http://www.linux.ie/newusers/beginners-linux-guide/
http://linux.about.com/od/embedded/l/blnewbie_toc.htm

So in short for all new people looking at linux the main point is that linux is about choices. You just need to try them for your selves. One section I even left out was the live distros which can really help to see if linux is even right for you.

Nice post, should maybe be a Sticky?

You miss CentOS for servers.

You forgot "linux from scratch". www.linuxfromscratch.org

Thanks guys. I have added the other links into the write up. Keep links and feedback coming, if I missed anything else that could help new people out then let me know.

Before asking here, post error messages (suitably edited) to: http://www.google.com/linux

And then read the links ;)

Surely you are asking too much !!

WE are supposed to use our psychic abilities to find the proper links, distill down the information, and compile it into step-by-step instructions with illustrations and screenshots. at least that is how it feels sometimes...

I rather got a kick out of the link posted yesterday..
http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/





A couple links to add would be to Linux documentation and man page sites.

Rute Linux Tutorial
http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz

The Linux Documentation project
http://tldp.org/

Linux man pages on the web
http://www.linuxmanpages.com/


Printer Support and Driver information
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/Op.../DatabaseIntro


Wireless cards with FREE Drivers (no ndiswrapper needed)
http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/net/wireless/cards.html


Linux Hardware Review Site (good place to check for support of a particular motherboard)
http://www.phoronix.com/

Link the stickys in the other forums on here, that might help them out, bring everything into one thread. I.e. the "post your sources.list" in the Debian forum, etc.

Link to the "Linux is NOT Windows" page: http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

Might be a good updates to the LQWiki http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Main_Page I wonder how many people have looked at that page..

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_Newbie_FAQ
looks somewhat familiar no? :)

Thanks farslayer. Post has been updated to include those new links.

Actually, the Linux SW equiv to MS here at LQ would be a good addition: http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/...ndows_software, but as always, persuading people to read first then post qns is the hardest part ;)

And some more:

http://www.yolinux.com/
http://www.linuxdocs.org/
http://www.linux.ie/newusers/beginners-linux-guide/
http://linux.about.com/od/embedded/l/blnewbie_toc.htm

Thanks jay73. Url's have been added.

If you want to make "recommended newbie reading" article, then you should probably include these links:
http://www.google.com/support/bin/st...tml&ctx=basics
http://www.google.com/help/operators.html
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

While some people sometimes find "smart questions" a bit offensive, I think that reading google search help and "advanced operators" is necessary, because it saves a lot of time, and many people don't know about simple things, like searching for phrase with quotes.

It would be nice to include advanced search example like this one:
Just to show what you can do.